The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-01-27

ed, On, mammy,1 nave seen tne oeVli.
He had seen himself So our friend, the
Cburisr, has only aualyzed its own feel
ings, and has mistaken, them for ours.
The Courier begins its TRADE upon us
by saying that it was through the advice
of the Editor OF the IFTELL1GENCER
that State registration tickets were re.
,quired in the late City election, when it
has already been informed that the fact
lis the chairman Of the prohibition COM
.mittee called upon Mr.. E. B. Murray and
asked him to examine the Law carefully,
and give him an opinion as to who we're
entitled to vote in the election which WAS
then pending. This Mr.. Murray did,
and gave it as his legal opinion that only
citizens who have resided in the City for
six months preceding the electioH and
are qualified to vote for members of the
General Assembly, aud who register
their names with the City Clerk, are en-.
titled to vote in Anderson. He did not
advise the adoption of this opinion,
though he did approve OF it. The pro-
hibitionists did not seek the sentiment of
any class in the City except the qualified
electors in this election, and they ha:e
never sought to prevent a qualified elec.
tor from voting, and the Baptist Curriers'
statement that the will of the electors
was not ascertained is nothing more than
the assertion Of legal proposition, in
which his lawmay not be correct. The
petition of the prohibitionists WAS, that
an election be submitted to the qualified
electors, aud this was done, in the opin-
ion of q number Of the leading lawyers
iof this city.
But the Courier says the registration
law is q dead letter, and is only enforced
in certain localities. Of course there
are many irregularities in elections, but
our observation is that the law is far from
being q dead letter. In the city election
we had every reason to believe that the
matter would go into the courts if the
city went Cry, and we preferred to go
there according to law rather than
against law. It was suspected that the
saloon keepers would, if possible, set
the election aside, and this suspicion
was the occasion of the investigation Of
the matter, and of the enforcement of
the law. Because We enforce the law
the Baptist Courier and the saloons
oppose us, and if we had not enforced it
the saloons and the Courts would have
opposed us. In most instances ne like
to have the Courier on our side, but just
now we would rather let the saloons
have the 'Baptist Courier with them, and
try to get the Courts with us. The
Courier takes remarkable position in
advocating the disregard of law, even in
this respect. Does the Courier know
that three men have to swear before High
Heaven upon the Holy Evangels that
they will fairly and impartially conduct
that election according to law. We
think it is a remarkable utterance for a
religious newspaper TO seriously advise
that men sworn under The tthe law may.
ignore the they have sworn to obey,
apaa substitute what they think more
convenient custom.
We know, as student to some extent
of history, tina. wrongs have been perpe.
trated under the forms of Law, but We
also know that great many more griev.
GUS wrongs have been perpetrated by its
violation. 1t has become 6reside
proverb that the best way to correct a
bad law is to enforce it. We are in
favor of the fullest expression of opinion
on the prohibition question, and in
framing the Anderson and Laurens bill
provided specially to secure it, but, at
the same time, as lawyer we know that
there is nothing more uncertain than to
risk the violation of law and expect to
sustain your action by saying it had been
violated before. Hence we think the
prohibitionists were right to follow the
law, though we do not doubt that the
election could have been carried either
way. The fact that light vote was
polled, only indicates feeling of Ger.
tainty on the part of the winning party.
ALI who could register did not do 80, and
all who registered did not vote, for they
did not think it worth while to take the
trouble. The last city election only
polled 1913 votes, when no State registra-
ton was required, because it was fore
gone conclusion as to how the election
would result.
The Courier says that ill-advised meth
DDS and manipulations in elections hurt
the prohibition cause, and this is true
but we can tell the Courier what hurts
them equally as badly, and that is the
Misrepresentation of the prohibition
methods. To its first article it diyap.
proved of the methods by which Ander.
son was carried dry. It did not say
what those methods were, but one could
have suspected ballot box stufing, riot
or bribery, or any Of the evils which
creep into elections at times. 1t con-
demned the methods, and when
called on gave as its only objection the
fact that the prohibitionists claim the
right to have the law of the State en-.
forced. The Courier was, therefore,
vague and inaccurate in general con.
demnation of the methods. If it had
stated the facts fairly we should not
have said one word, but its generaliza-
tion was liable to raisconstruction. By
The way, the Courier, in its first articles